[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 12]
[House]
[Page 16657]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1220
                            SOCIAL SECURITY

  (Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker and Members, I rise in support 
of the 54 million retirees, disabled workers, children and spouses in 
our country who currently receive Social Security. For 75 years, Social 
Security has served as a promise to the men and women who worked hard 
all their lives to make this country great that they could look forward 
to financial security later in their lives.
  Social Security was designed to be one leg of a three-legged stool. 
Unfortunately, the other two legs--savings and pensions--aren't there 
for many seniors. Only 41 percent of seniors have employer-sponsored 
pensions. Three out of five senior households have no retirement 
savings at all, and one in three seniors rely on Social Security for 90 
percent or more of their entire income.
  The Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction should not look at 
Social Security as a way to pay down our national debt or as a way to 
offset tax cuts for the most fortunate in our country. Social Security 
is not in crisis. It presently has a surplus of over $2.6 trillion--
enough to pay its obligations in full over the next 25 years.
  Social Security needs to be reformed over the long term. These 
reforms need to be debated in proper order inside the appropriate 
committees in the House and Senate and not hastily put together. I ask 
my colleagues to stand together with America's seniors and support a 
strong, robust Social Security program.

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